A COVENTRY couple who believe their son's autism was caused by the measles, mumps and rubella jab have set their sights on a court battle with the drugs giant which made the vaccine.

Caroline and Wayne Goalby's five-year-old son Kyle has autism. His condition causes serious behaviour problems such as temper tantrums when he can't get his own way, incontinence and an obsession with routine.

He also has learning difficulties and is a pupil at Hawkesbury Fields Special School.

Wayne, aged 33, has given up his job as an engineer to care for Kyle. Both he and Mrs Goalby, aged 29, are full-time carers for Kyle and his two sisters, Paris, aged 13 months and Taylor, two.

The couple, of Valley Road, Stoke Heath, believe the condition was caused by the vaccine, because the behaviour problems started several months after the jab. Until then Kyle was a model baby.

They plan to contact advice groups for parents whose children have been badly affected by vaccinations to find out how to track down the drugs company involved

Mrs Goalby said: "We are doing this because we want to make a point. If we can get compensation it will help with Kyle's personal care when he is older, but the main reason is we want people to know about this.

"When parents take their kids to have the jab they should be told about a possible link with autism."

Scores of parents from around the country are suing drugs giants because they believe the MMR vaccine caused autism in their youngsters.

Fears about a link between autism and the MMR jab were first raised in a research paper in medical journal The Lancet five years ago.

But government health experts say the vaccine is safe and urge parents to have their children injected and prevent an outbreak of measles, a potentially fatal disease.